From the Shadows

I may have been waiting for a this movie for awhile. I absolutely Loved it !

Loved the acting,the actors, the Special Effects, the story, oh the story is amazing ! Haven't seen a big budget movie that has gripped me and caught me so much for a long while, like this movie has. Some big budget movies these days, barely a story, or just a bad story, bur rely on on over the top special Effects to win the masses. This movie, amazing story, very good effects, acting , and all excellently done.

This movie , as said caught me so much, almost unreal so. Some words , like the full words, but I'll abbreviate, C. R. and A. And other parts and story , held me so much. Don't listen to the drivel, the bad, that others say , this is movie is so very good.

"From the Shadows" is a fresh B horror film that boasts a talented ensemble cast, including the seasoned actors Bruce Davison and Keith David, alongside the capable Selena Anduze and a band of young talented newcomers. The film's plot revolves around the mysterious demise of Dr. Joseph Cawl, played with gravitas by Bruce Davison, and his Hidden Wisdom cult members in a tragic fire. Survivors of the incident enlist the help of paranormal expert Selena Anduze to unravel the truth, only to find themselves targeted by a deranged killer portrayed by the incomparable Keith David.

The movie has an intriguing premise, which kicks off with a harrowing incident and transitions into video-chat interviews that steadily build a sense of unease. The supernatural elements and the stalking scenes are well-executed, and special effects makeup work by Vincent J. Guastini (who previously worked on Keith David's Requiem for a Dream) adds authenticity to the eerie nd jarring moments.

While the film does rely heavily on video-chat conversations for a significant part of its storytelling, it manages to keep viewers engaged with clever editing and snippets from Dr. Cawl's documentaries and security footage. The movie also delves into the history and mythology of shadowy figures, adding depth to the narrative.

Overall, "From the Shadows" is a solid horror flick that benefits from the performances of its seasoned actors, Bruce Davison and Keith David, and the capable lead, Selena Anduze. It offers an engaging story, albeit with some slower moments, and delivers effective scares. The supporting cast of cult members deserves mentioning as Ian Whitt's jolting screams combined with gruesome special effects makeup work, as well as Max MacKenzie's humor and charm help the scenes otherwise heavy with exposition really pop. All the younger actors really complement the veterans and create a diverse and compelling ensemble wreathed by a nightmare world of classic horror visual effects.

There's a lot to like here, despite some poor acting and poor dialogue - there was a good, cheesy storyline with some welcome campiness to lighten the mood, but the film should have stuck to the screen life scenario.

I am a fan of found footage films, and can find something to like in almost all of them, just for the fact that they follow the found footage tried and true formula, so the entire premise is that the viewer becomes part of the action and there is more involvement and immediacy in the storyline.

Had this film stuck to that formula, mainly the screen life model, this would have been a lot more fun than it was.

Following a mysterious accident, a researcher looking into the connection between the incident and a mysterious cult gets several survivors into a video chat to get the inside scoop on the situation but the longer it goes on the more they realize that a demonic spirit may have targeted everyone.

Overall, this was a pretty decent overall genre effort. One of the bigger factors going for this one is the strong setup that enables quite a lot to like about it. The initial starting point here with the tragic fire and explosion that alerts everyone around the world to learn of their shady backstory and history while also bringing about the survivors who are at the focal point of the film the rest of the way with the resulting interview taking place over the video-chat that serves the rest of the film. This comes together quite nicely with the type of action shown here with the interviews taking on a demented air including the belief that the creatures are after them once they've been released and going around stalking them which has some genuinely enjoyable supernatural shenanigans at play when they appear to torment the others in the chat that gets involved into a series of impressive stalking scenes featuring the spirit manipulating the environment to provide some decent enough scenes. These are enough to make the film rather likable although there are some big issues keeping this one down. The biggest drawback to the film is the most obvious factor present in the presentation of everything taking place over a video chat for the near majority of the film. This reduces the film to a simplistic video call that has people simply sitting around their computer and discussing the history of the cult, their arrival in the society, and what happened the night of the original accident which is just not that interesting to see carry out. As it slowly becomes apparent that there's not much else going on and it's only going to be this split-screen multi-person chat presentation and only getting brief glimpses of other figures gathered together in the brief segments explaining everything, there's not much investment that happens in here which is what occurs once the creature starts to appear providing the few brief instances of change compared to the rest of the action here but does stand out quite obviously. The other issue here is the overall cheap and cheesy look this all has as a result which could be a huge turn-off but otherwise, it's not as big an issue as the presentation.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

With some nice homages to horror and thriller classics, SFX and scenes, I think it might be a sequel to another.

This is a very much covid Era filmed in a room about people in the zoom room being bored out of their mind in a zoom while ghosts zoom by. Some acting is very amateur improv-acting classes indeed.

Lots of creative ideas put together, and thrown against the screen, some stick, some don't.

I'd say it's something similar to the great classic "From Beyond", but in a new way.

Overall, a very enjoyable, albeit slow by moments, ride.

This is a padding sentence to reach the necessary length of review, so that it will appear.